Jessica Mishu, owner of Blue Ridge Yoga and Wellness Center in Farragut, wanted her studio to go to the next level.

“I wanted it to be state of the art. I just had a vision of having the most beautiful space,” she said.

When space opened up next door to her 623 N. Campbell Station Road studio next to Mellow Mushroom, Mishu seized the opportunity. She started construction in December 2016 to expand her space. The construction was completed New Year’s Eve.

“We had our first class New Year’s Day, and we’re really happy with it,” she said. “Everybody has told us how much happier they are.

“Already, it’s so much nicer and there’s so much ease, flow and spaciousness,” Mishu added. “The most important thing we do is for our students and their happiness.”

When she opened Blue Ridge Yoga and Wellness Center May 20, 2015, the studio was about 2,500 square feet. Mishu said the recent addition gave her 1,000 more feet of space.

“We wanted to double the [classrooms] so we would have two really nice-sized rooms and they would feel really spacious and nice for people,” Mishu said. “We over-doubled the size of our lobby.

“We wanted to make that a really welcoming environment where people could sit and talk,” she said. “A lot of people make friends here and meet their friends here so it’s a nice way for people to come and chat.

“To me, it’s the most beautiful studio I’ve seen in Tennessee,” Mishu added. It’s important to me to be in a beautiful space because it’s really like your home away from home.

“It’s a time you can leave your hectic, stressful life and come into this really Zen atmosphere.

I think that is really important for people to enter and have

that spaciousness and beautiful loveliness.”

The additional space has opened up opportunities for Mishu.

“We also do a lot of teacher trainings, so there are opportunities to have a more comfortable space [for the trainings],” she said.

The additional space also provides an opportunity to provide massage therapy in the future, increase storage, and maybe add more classes.

Blue Ridge Yoga and Wellness Center already has a full range of classes, including a weekend schedule, for everyone from beginners to advanced and from teens to the elderly Mishu said.

“Our oldest student just turned 95.”

It also has restorative classes and chair yoga classes for clients who have trouble getting on and off the floor, she added.

“We are the only studio that has ongoing meditation classes that are guided meditation because we really want to be the full, holistic yoga studio,” Mishu said. “We’re not just fitness based. We’re the whole lifestyle.

The studio has new series of workshops coming up, she said. They include a series for beginners and one only for runners to help with rehabilitation and improve runs.

“And then, we have a few Valentine workshops coming up, self-love and partner classes,” Mishu said.

In 2016, she said Blue Ridge Yoga and Wellness Center raised more than $14,000 to help local communities.

“We put on a lot of fundraisers for multiple organizations, from cancer support communities to bringing in teachers from Africa to providing self-defense classes for women in abusive situations,” Mishu said.

The studio is open seven days a week with most classes in the morning and evening Monday through Friday, leaving a gap in the afternoon. She also has classes Saturdays and Sundays.

For more information about Blue Ridge Yoga, visit yogaknoxvilletn.com or call 865-288-3562.